Arouna Kone signed off his Wigan career with an FA Cup winner’s medal in May.

Now Everton’s new £6.5m striker wants to be a winner again with his new Blues team-mates.

The Ivory Coast international completed his switch yesterday to become Roberto Martinez’s first Everton signing.

And after passing a medical and being introduced to his new Everton team-mates at Finch Farm, he said: “I’m really eager to do my best to try and win something again this season.

“I really believe in this team and I think we will have a great campaign next season. I can’t wait to make my debut for this club.”

Martinez instantly identified Kone as one of his main targets after arriving as Blues boss last month. And after several weeks of negotiations he expressed his delight at being reunited with the manager who brought him to England last summer.

“I feel delighted,” he said. “I’m really happy about joining this team. For me it is the fruition of work that has been going on for a month now. I’m really pleased to be here and I hope that everything goes well and I can have a great season for the club, just like I did last year with Wigan.

"It’s an honour to be back working with the manager once again. Last season he really helped me a lot.

“For my first season I did the absolute best I could, but I think that joining up with him at this club is like another dimension for me and I hope that I’m going to continue to improve alongside him. We’ll keep working hard to try and help the club achieve all of its goals.”

Kone proved a regular thorn in Everton’s side last season, scoring against the Blues home and away in the Premier League and leading the line for the team which triumphed 3-0 at Goodison in the FA Cup quarter-final.

But he admits that leaving a club which had just been relegated for one which finished sixth was like “moving up a level”.

“I played against them in the Premier League and in the FA Cup and it is like moving up a level,” he explained. “Every player dreams of playing for a bigger club, and coming here is a big step up for me, and I hope to be able to fulfil all my dreams and get as far as I can through hard work.

“I want to give my very best for this team and help them to achieve all their targets this season. I hope to be on target as frequently as possible here. I have faith in my own ability but I hope that everything goes smoothly and that I can also steer clear of injuries.

“I think that with the quality of squad Everton has, we will have a good season. I hope to score as many goals as I can next season.”

A French speaker, Kone believes that the presence of Francophiles like Sylvain Distin, Magaye Gueye and Maroune Fellaini will help him settle into his new surroundings swiftly.

“I think it will be a help,” he said. “At Wigan last season I settled in easily because almost half the squad spoke Spanish, which allowed me to fit in to the group really quickly.

“The fact that here there are already French speaking players, it will help me a great deal to settle in. That will be a good thing for both me as well as the team.

“The quicker I settle both on and off the field, the better it is. I hope to settle in here really quickly which will help me to be at my very best from whenever I play my first game.

“I’m raring to go, because when you join a club, it’s that desire to start working that first comes to mind. I’m ready and willing to get started and can’t wait to meet up with my team mates and the coaching staff, in order to be able to start training with them and I really hope that all goes well because I’m really eager to do my best to try and win something again this season.”

Kone will not be in the travelling squad which flies out to Austria today for a training camp, culminating in the Blues’ first pre-season friendly under Roberto Martinez on Sunday, against Austria Vienna.

After international commitments for Ivory Coast at the end of the season he has returned to his homeland until the weekend. The Austrian champions are three weeks into their preparations for the new season and have already played two matches.

They took part in the Deyna Cup tournament in Warsaw at the weekend – a competition for the champions of Austria, Poland, Serbia and Brazil – and after losing 1-0 to Brazilian side Fluminese they beat Partizan Belgrade 2-1 in a third/fourth place play-off on Sunday.

Coach Nenad Bjelica said: “The third week of preparation is always the hardest for me so we were not so fresh. It is important that we are strong at the start of the season and we will be.”